Stalker issue

variant

I met this cool girl that I'm friends with at the dorms, she was super frustrated tonight, so I inquired why and such...

She seems to be getting calls in the middle of the night by some fucktard whispering obscenities.
We sat through and looked through her detailed bill and it seems that private/blocked calls just show up as her own number.

This has been ongoing for 4 months, so before she moved here, here isn't far from home though, Pasadena, that's like 2-3 hours away so this guy may still be dangerous. She ignored it at first thinking he'd get bored eventually but he obviously hasn't and it's getting quiet scary.

The only person that she thought it could be has already been ruled out as she knows some his friends and got the tabs on where he was on several occasions that she received the calls...

So yeah? How would you go about dealing with this? She's gonna change the phone # soon and I've offered this as advice before here in H/A but when it's the safety of your friend, it just doesn't seem like enough...Can you even file a police report for this kind of shit? I mean, we don't have a name, number, anything at all.

Dhalphir

You can go to the police for peace of mind, I doubt they will be able to do anything. Also, I don't have personal experience with this, but if we apply common sense to this, if you go to the police and get some sort of official record of these events, and then god forbid something DOES happen to her, at least they will be looking in most likely the right place to begin with...at the possibility that it was the stalker who did it.

Blake T

Tell the police so if you do find out who it is they then have some kind of record of the previous actions.

Feral

Go to the department that handles your dorm phones. Tell them this has been happening. Ask them if they can activate a "Call Trace" or a "Trap" on the line. Assuming their phone system isn't a holdover from the stone age, they can do it and they will explain to you how it works. Either feature will allow them to determine the originating phone number of the offending calls, which you can then either take to police to help track the guy down, or just have them block entirely.

blue powder

You need to tell the police. For this to have been happening for as long as it has and for her not to have informed them is unacceptable.

subedii

Can't you go to the phone company? Say that the phone calls received at XYZ times have been threats and obscene phonecalls and ask that they either block the number or give it to you / the police?

IIRC (and I could be wrong about this), making threatening phonecalls could also be illegal depending on the nature and content of the call?

EDIT: Also, what Feral and Blue Powder said.

blue powder

Yeah, Subedii, you're right I think. Threatening insinuates malicious intent etc. Either way this guy is a massive cunt.

burntheladle

The police may have to ask your service provider for the phone number, depending on their policies. Call the police, tell them. Also call your service provider and report it - where I used to work, this information was logged into the customer's account. But make sure it has been reported - if she changes her number and it keeps happening, a record will be very important.

Doc

Since you are getting a bill for it, I presume it's on a cell phone? Couldn't she just not answer blocked calls late at night? Also, have her message reverted to the robot voice saying her number instead of her.

EclecticGroove

Blocking the number won't work if this guy is serious, and would only be a temporary reprieve at best. All he needs to do is use someone else's phone or change his own number.

Best bet is what others mentioned. Call the cops, even if they nothing but sit and twiddle their thumbs it's on record. If the police don't start walking you through steps or say there is nothing they can do, then see about contacting whoever owns the phone service (campus telecom, cell phone provider, etc).

Really you want to know who this person is more than anything, that way you know if he's a viable threat, have a complaint on record, and can proceed to take action against him if things continue.

I'd also start saving messages he leaves (if any) to use as evidence. Also, keep all bills or other materials that show when he called.

variant

Yeah this is for a cell phone, I'm gonna sit down and check out how to automatically forward private calls straight to the voicemail, I'm pretty sure I've heard that this can be done with the newer Razrs.

As for asking the phone company, her dad already has, according to them, basically in the case of private/blocked calls, they don't receive any caller ID info, even at the towers, so there's absolutely NO WAY to trace them. What genius thought this up? This is such a perfect tool for these types of cunts its ridiculous.

And as for her just ignoring the calls...she does for the most part but it's still scary.

Barrakketh

variant wrote: »

As for asking the phone company, her dad already has, according to them, basically in the case of private/blocked calls, they don't receive any caller ID info, even at the towers, so there's absolutely NO WAY to trace them. What genius thought this up? This is such a perfect tool for these types of cunts its ridiculous.

That smells like bullshit. While it is true that they probably don't get any Caller ID info, the telephone company (at some level) has access to ANI (which is a separate system from CID).

Besides, the telephone companies have to be in the posession of a calling party's number (or some other system that is linked to the caller's number) in order to route the call. And while the telco won't provide that information to Joe Average, do you honestly believe that something as simple a CID blocking could be used prevent law enforcement from performing a trace?

Specularity

I certainly am not saying that what this creep is doing is okay, but perhaps you could give your friend some ease of mind by letting her know that this does happen to girls in dorms. My university had a problem with this last year for a good couple weeks. Granted, it was on the room phones, but with Facebook now, and friends-of-friends, her number could have been surprisingly readily available. Certainly if she's uncomfortable you should have someone with some authority intervene, but I don't think she should feel that her personal safety is threatened, if it's any consolation to her.

EclecticGroove

Specularity wrote: »

I certainly am not saying that what this creep is doing is okay, but perhaps you could give your friend some ease of mind by letting her know that this does happen to girls in dorms. My university had a problem with this last year for a good couple weeks. Granted, it was on the room phones, but with Facebook now, and friends-of-friends, her number could have been surprisingly readily available. Certainly if she's uncomfortable you should have someone with some authority intervene, but I don't think she should feel that her personal safety is threatened, if it's any consolation to her.

I might be inclined to agree with "olol stupid dorm pranks" save the fact he said it's been going on for ~4+ months even before she got to school.

That's almost a half a year of some creep calling her up breathing heavy into the phone and talking shit. It's already obvious it's taking a toll on her.


As for the phone company response? Yeah, it's bullshit... they can easily find out who it is unless he's doing some serious bullshit with stealing Cell #'s, etc. In a case like that he's violating all sorts of laws and would be in for a world more trouble than a simple bit of phone dickery.

I suggested going to them AFTER the police, because you can tell them you are working with the police on x case number with y detective. You can then proceed to either work with them (if being cooperative) or raise enough of a stink to get them to look into it for her.

Doc

I don't get why she keeps answering the phone.

witch_ie

This happened recently to a friend of mine as well. She went to the police and they said it needed to happen with a specific frequency for it to qualify as harrassment so that she could file a police report. Have your friend record the phone calls and document when they happen. Most cell phones do have a record function. After one week, take this to the police.

The phone company most likely does have access to the phone number, but aren't allowed to release that information. Once it because a police invesitigation, the police can get that info.

Short of all this, your friend should change phone number and stop answering calls from blocked numbers.

Artereis

Here's the policy for my company:

Call the cell provider, see if they can activate *57 (call trace) on their phone. Granted, we're not a cell company, but the procedure should be similar. With that activated, attempt it the next time she is called. Once the harassing call is made, she needs to hang up, then dial *57. If the trade was successful, she'll need to call the police and explain that the trace was successful. She'll need to provide the date/time of the call. Normally, you'd provide the number as well, but with it blocked you obviously can't.

If they police deem it theatening, they will subpoena the telephone company for the records. Caller ID isn't blocked at the source, it will be blocked at your provider's switch. A telephone company typically will not release that kind of information to a consumer. The subpoena is necessary.

brandotheninjamaster

I hear that if you use call forward, the number that is calling you is "uncloaked" on the phone that the call is being forwarded too. The police won't be able to do anything until you have his phone #. So if you call forward her calls to you or whoever. Whoever you are forwarding it will be able to view douche bags' number. Assuming that he is using *67.

Best of luck.

variant

She's only picked up the phone maybe 4-5 times, out of frustration.
#s changed and she's not giving it out to anyone, filed a police report but they said they can't really do anything as there is no suspect, #, name.

Blake T

variant wrote: »

She's only picked up the phone maybe 4-5 times, out of frustration.
#s changed and she's not giving it out to anyone, filed a police report but they said they can't really do anything as there is no suspect, #, name.

Tell her to keep a record of when he calls if it starts again.

If they start up again it'll be enough info for them to start investigating this seriously.

Thanatos

Call the phone company, tell them what's happening, and that the changed number doesn't seem to have helped.

Feral

Barrakketh wrote: »

variant wrote: »

As for asking the phone company, her dad already has, according to them, basically in the case of private/blocked calls, they don't receive any caller ID info, even at the towers, so there's absolutely NO WAY to trace them. What genius thought this up? This is such a perfect tool for these types of cunts its ridiculous.

That smells like bullshit.

Seriously.
The magic words you want to use with the phone company are "call trap" and "call trace." Not caller ID.